Hopefully it will not be too lame.
Here is my Ghost or Hypo female. Yes, the two names for the morph are somewhat interchangeable.
Somewhat, you say? Why yes! Let me explain.
Hypo is the base morph.
There are a lot of lines out there, and apparently now most of them are compatible. I only have two lines out of the millions.
Let me list out the ones I can off the top of my head:
Orange
Yellow
Butterscotch
Peach (RDR's line)
Blue
Green
G1 (Graziani's line)
NERD
TSK
Bell
Now most people clump the hypos into the Orange category if they don't know what it really is, and considering the amount of lineage people need to follow, I can understand. BUT! There are some that are not compatible.
The Graziani line is apparently incompatible. I say this only from hearing from others, not from experience.
The rest is assumed to be compatible. Assumed. Yeah.
I don't think anyone is really working that hard at the Hypo lines to be able to definately outline what is compatible with what.
So my suggestion is that if you are working with Hypos, to ask what line you are working with if you should choose to get new blood. Make sure to cover your bases.
Now on to the term Ghost.
The TRUE Ghost is a double recessive morph, which an Axanthic and a Hypo combined. Long term project for sure, and was only just recently hit on by TSK last year (08').
I really like it, but I'm not sure if I am that interested in working with it yet (LONG TERM project).
So if someone asks you if you are working with Ghosts, you can technically say either yes or no and be correct. Ghosts CAN refer to the base morph Hypo, and in general most people just feel more comfortable using the term, but in truth, the TRUE Ghost is an Axanthic Hypo.
This is interesting, considering the Axanthic Hypo now has to be labelled the True Ghost. Hey, whatever makes it more clear, I suppose.
I am personally working with the Bell Line and the Orange Line. Boo here is an Orange line Hypo female.
I really like the Hypos, and want to pick up a few more over the next season to round out the combos that can be made.
HoneyBees? Hypo Mojaves? Hypo Black Pastels?
Hypos just make everything that much more beautiful. I love the frosted look.
So there you go. Hypos are great, Ghosts are awesome, True Ghosts blow me away!
YAY Hypos.
Have a great day, my friends!
Heathers,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ghost, uh, I mean hypo, analysis. I have successfully combined Orange, Butterscotch and Green ghosts [sic]. I know other breeders who have proved quite a bit more than that to be inter-breedable.
I'd wager that 90+% of all hypos sold are marketed as "Orange Ghosts" and I can't recall a time when hypos weren't referred to as ghosts. Taking cues from other species (boas) the originators of the lines could have refrained from using the term ghost but they didn't (from what I can determine). A simple marketing decision, I'm sure; 'ghost' is a much sexier term than 'hypo' and the level of sexiness is directly related to price.
The lineage of these lines in most collections is lost because a majority of people bought them as 'orange ghosts' or, more simply, 'ghosts'.
Nothing I have seen does more for a snake than being hypo ('ghost' for me, I'm guilty of using the g-word). Ghost Black Pastel, Ghost Mojave, Ghost Butter, Honey Bee and Ghost Pinstripes. All are ridiculous incarnations of their non-hypo kin. It never stops being amazing to see what the hypo gene does to a morph; it's always so much more than expected.
Thanks for the post.
Colin Weaver